A long time ago, in a bass galaxy far away, there were two basses made for me that had the Fred Hammond Dark Star pickups in them. Here, for the first time, are those basses’ stories. Although those basses of mine are not featured on here, you can hear my friend Oz’s basses which, in fact, sounded better than mine ever did.
Read MoreI have always been a fan of the Beastie Boys since Licensed To Ill. I saw them live, early on, opening for Run DMC. I knew they were on the verge of being huge and influential. They were respected in the rap world, they came from punk rock, and when they eventually started playing instruments on Check Your Head, I became hugely influenced by their direction and fearlessness.
Read MoreI have owned several Rat distortions by ProCo including the famed ProCo Rat LM308 model, but I will tell you that Big Ear's Wood Cutter smokes them all. I always found the Rats to be bottomless and noisy, sometimes with no clarity, or unusable high mids for bass. If you have ever had a love for distortion but were never truly satisfied with your Rat, look no further.
Read MoreToday's Show Me Your Pedalboard entry belongs to Chris from Salt Lake City, Utah! Chris has a very modest board which he mainly uses for his bluesy/stoner rock band. Chris is hardcore repping DOD, as well as rocking some other surprises too, so let's dive in.
Read MorePedals and Effects is back with the first Pedals and Effects 5 entry of the new year! For those unfamiliar, “The Pedals and Effects 5” is where we ask musicians of all styles and all walks of life how they first got into pedals, and what pedals are currently inspiring them. It will be the same five questions every time, so be sure to keep an eye out to see what your favorite artist has to say about their favorite pedals and effects. Today’s entry for the Pedals and Effects 5 features long time pedal fiend and friend to Pedals and Effects, Jonathan Hischke.
Read MoreI wanted to let any of you attending NAMM 2016 know that I will be doing some demos all weekend at the Earthquaker Devices Booth which is booth #4296 in Hall C. I’ll be demonstrating Earthquaker Devices‘ latest and greatest as well as old favorites.
Read MoreIt is an absolute honor to be joined by synth master Alessandro Cortini of Nine Inch Nails, to show us the ins and outs of various effects and synthesizers! Alessandro is incredibly knowledgeable when it comes to synths, and he walked us through the details of the Abstrakt Instruments Avalon.
Read MoreFollowing the topic of live bass solos, I have to reach back into the Racer X archive and bring out my solo onExtreme Volume. For me, the best thing about this is to see my evolution when put under the improvised solo spotlight. The main difference between this solo and the solo I posted last week is this one has drums backing me.
Read MoreIt’s the first Show Me Your Pedalboard entry of the New Year, and the first pedalboard of 2016 comes from bass player Eric! Eric’s rocking a lot of Pedals and Effects favorites in addition to forging his own sonic path. Let’s take a look at what Eric is moving and grooving to:
Read MoreI will always count myself very lucky to have been a part of The Mars Volta. The level of creativity of every single member of that band was beyond anything I had ever been apart of. Luckily, one of the leaders of the band, Omar, is also a bass player and from early on he would often let me rip a solo. There were so many times where I was thrilled, as well as times I was scared as hell. So much goes into actually pulling off a successful unaccompanied solo, and I think I can break it all down here in this Throwback Thursday post.
Read MoreHere we go with Pedals And Effects Top Ten Pedals for 2015 and this year came with some radical sounds! As the boutique pedal dominance continues in the industry, a couple of the big guys managed to come up with some over the top pedals. I added a couple of reliable handy man tools, like the Hotone sampler, and the Keith McMillen MIDI controller but overall, wildness reigns king here at Pedals And Effects!
Read MoreCopyright PedalsAndEffects 2016
